Dimensionality reduction of hyperspectral data using spectral fractal feature

A new approach for dimensionality reduction of hyperspectral data has been proposed in this article. The method is based on extraction of fractal-based features from the hyperspectral data. The features have been generated using spectral fractal dimension of the spectral response curves (SRCs) after smoothing, interpolating and segmenting the curves. The new features so generated have then been used to classify hyperspectral data. Comparing the post classification accuracies with some other conventional dimensionality reduction methods, it has been found that the proposed method, with less computational complexity than the conventional methods, is able to provide classification accuracy statistically equivalent to those from conventional methods.     

Elevated arsenic in deeper groundwater of the western Bengal basin, India: Extent and controls from regional to local scale

The deeper groundwater (depending on definition) of the Bengal basin (Ganges-Brahmaputra delta) has long been considered as an alternate, safe drinking-water source in areas with As-enrichment in near-surface groundwater. The present study provides the first collective discussion on extent and controls of elevated As in deeper groundwater of a regional study area in the western part of the Bengal basin. Deeper groundwater is defined here as non-brackish, potable (Cl⁻ ? 250 mg/L) groundwater available at the maximum accessed depth (∼80-300 m). The extent of elevated As in deeper groundwater in the study area seems to be largely controlled by the aquifer-aquitard framework. Arsenic-enriched deeper groundwater is mostly encountered north of 22.75°N latitude, where an unconfined to semi-confined aquifer consisting of Holocene- to early Neogene-age gray sand dominates the hydrostratigraphy to 300 m depth below land surface. Aquifer sediments are not abnormally enriched in As at any depth, but sediment and water chemistry are conducive to As mobilization in both shallow and deeper parts of the aquifer(s). The biogeochemical triggers are influenced by complex redox disequilibria. Results of numerical modeling and profiles of environmental tracers at a local-scale study site suggest that deeper groundwater abstraction can draw As-enriched water to 150 m depth within a few decades, synchronous with the advent of wide-scale irrigational pumping in West Bengal (India).     

Mineral fish: their morphological classification,usefulness as shear sense indicators and genesis

Mineral fish are sheared and commonly asymmetric mineral grains or clusters of grains. This work reports 11 sub-types of mineral fish showing a top-to-SE sense of ductile shearing in the Karakoram Metamorphic Complex (KMC). The mineral fish are of three broad geometries: sigmoid, lenticular and parallelogram. Reliable senses of shear are indicated by the overall asymmetry and inclination of mineral fish. On the other hand, the true shear sense is not always indicated by either the orientations of their cleavage planes or those of the individual grains in composite mineral fish. The ranges of local orientations of single sigmoid mineral fish that include the lower values (<23°) in the KMC indicate their extensive ductile shearing. The studied mineral fish were products of a range of deformation mechanisms including homogeneous deformation, simple shear, intra-granular slip, crystal-plastic deformation, fracturing and synthetic shearing. Additionally, some examples might have undergone duplex slips and a few nucleated and grew either prior to or during the top-to-SE shearing.     

Observed intraseasonal and seasonal variability of the West India Coastal Current on the continental slope

We present current data from acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) moored on the continental slope off the west coast of India. The data were collected at four locations (roughly at Kanyakumari, Kollam, Goa, and Mumbai) extending from ～ 7° to ～ 20°N during 2008–2012. The observations show that a seasonal cycle, including an annual cycle, is present in the West India Coastal Current (WICC); this seasonal cycle, which strengthens northward, shows considerable interannual variability and is not as strongly correlated along the coast as in climatologies based on ship drifts or the altimeter. The alongshore decorrelation of the WICC is much stronger at intraseasonal periods, which are evident during the winter monsoon all along the coast. This intraseasonal variability is stronger in the south. A striking feature of the WICC is upward phase propagation, which implies an undercurrent whose depth becomes shallower as the season progresses. There are also instances when the phase propagates downward. At the two southern mooring locations off Kollam and Kanyakumari, the cross-shore current, which is usually associated with eddy-like circulations, is comparable to the alongshore current on occasions. A comparison with data from the OSCAR (Ocean Surface Currents Analyses Real-time) data product shows not only similarities, but also significant differences, particularly in the phase. One possible reason for this phase mismatch between the ADCP current at 48 m and the OSCAR current, which represents the current in the 0–30 m depth range, is the vertical phase propagation. Current products based on Ocean General Circulation Models like ECCO2 (Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean, Phase II) and GODAS (Global Ocean Data Assimilation System) show a weaker correlation with the ADCP current, and ECCO2 does capture some of the observed variability.     

Determining the genetic origin of nitrate contamination in aquifers of Northern Gujarat,India

Over the past decades, the Gujarat state of India experienced intensive agricultural and industrial activities, fertilizer consumption and abstraction of groundwater, which in turn has degraded the ground water quality. Protection of aquifers from nitrate pollution is a matter of prime concern for the planners and decision-makers. The present study assessed the spatial and temporal variation of groundwater nitrate levels in areas with different land use/land cover activities for both pre- and post-monsoon period. The pre-monsoon nitrate level (1.6–630.7 mg/L) in groundwater was observed to be higher as compared to the post-monsoon level (2.7–131.7 mg/L), possibly due to insufficient recharge and evaporation induced enrichment of agrichemical salts in groundwater. High HCO₃ ^? (200–1,000 mg/L) as well as SO₄ ^2?/Cl^? (0.111–0.992) in post-monsoon period provides a favourable environment for denitrification, and lower the NO₃ levels during the post-monsoon period. The K vs NO₃ scatter plot suggests a common source of these ions when the concentration is <5 mg/L, the relationships between different pollutants and nitrate also suggest that fertilizers and other sources, such as, animal waste, crop residue, septic tanks and effluents from different food processing units present in the area can be attributed to higher nitrate levels in the groundwater. Appropriate agronomic practices such as application of fertilizers based on calibrated soil tests and proper irrigation with respect to crop can minimize the requirement for inorganic fertilizers, which can bring down the cost of cultivation considerably, and also protect groundwater from further degradation.     

Semi classical gravitational effects around global monopole in Kalb-Ramond background

The problem of semiclassical gravitational effects of globalmonopole in Kalb-Ramond backgroundinvestigated. It is shown that the monopoleexerts repulsive gravitational force on nonrelativistic matter and space around it hasa deficit solid angle.     

Cosmic ray interactions with lunar materials: Nature and composition of species formed

The solar and galactic cosmic rays interact directly with lunar surface materials, and the dominant nature of interactions is essentially the complete absorption of corpuscles. These corpuscles damage the lattice structure, and induce a complex set of reactions in the materials producing various species. The cosmic ray damage of the lattice would not produce an amorphous layer, similar to that produced by the solar wind, because the solar wind erosion rate is faster than the cosmic ray-induced amorphous layer formation rate. The species formation rate considered in this paper are those produced by protons, the dominant component of cosmic rays. Protons produce H, H₂, OH, H₂O, and hydrogenated species of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, etc. These species, while migrating in the material, encounter oncoming cosmic ray corpuscles, and undergo a complex set of reactions. Although a variety of species are produced by protons, the dominant contributor to the atmosphere is H₂. The H₂ flux (molecules cm^–2 sec^–1) is about 1.5 × 10⁵ as compared to the H flux of 8.4 × 10¹ and the H₂O flux of 4.6 × 10^–2. These fluxes are about 10^–3 smaller than the fluxes of the same species produced by the solar wind protons. Thus the contributions of the cosmic ray-induced species to the atmosphere is very small compared to the solar wind-induced species. Although simulated experiments showed high concentractions of OH and H₂O in the terrestrial materials of lunar type, these species concentrations in the lunar materials under the lunar environment is much smaller than those observed in the simulated experiments.     

Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 5-yr constraints on fnl with wavelets

We present a Gaussianity analysis of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe ( WMAP ) 5-yr cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropy data maps. We use several third-order estimators based on the spherical Mexican hat wavelet. We impose constraints on the local non-linear coupling parameter f _nl using well-motivated non-Gaussian simulations. We analyse the WMAP maps at resolution of 6.9 arcmin for the Q , V , and W frequency bands. We use the KQ 75 mask recommended by the WMAP team which masks out 28 per cent of the sky. The wavelet coefficients are evaluated at 10 different scales from 6.9 to 150 arcmin. With these coefficients, we compute the third order estimators which are used to perform a  χ²  analysis. The  χ²  statistic is used to test the Gaussianity of the WMAP data as well as to constrain the f _nl parameter. Our results indicate that the WMAP data are compatible with the Gaussian simulations, and the f _nl parameter is constrained to  −8 < f _nl < +111  at 95 per cent confidence level (CL) for the combined   V + W   map. This value has been corrected for the presence of undetected point sources, which add a positive contribution of  Δ f _nl= 3 ± 5  in the   V + W   map. Our results are very similar to those obtained by the WMAP team using the bispectrum.     

Groundwater arsenic contamination and its health effects in India

During a 28-year field survey in India (1988–2016), groundwater arsenic contamination and its health effects were registered in the states of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the Ganga River flood plain, and the states of Assam and Manipur in the flood plain of Brahamaputra and Imphal rivers. Groundwater of Rajnandgaon village in Chhattisgarh state, which is not in a flood plain, is also arsenic contaminated. More than 170,000 tubewell water samples from the affected states were analyzed and half of the samples had arsenic >10 μg/L (maximum concentration 3,700 μg/L). Chronic exposure to arsenic through drinking water causes various health problems, like dermal, neurological, reproductive and pregnancy effects, cardiovascular effects, diabetes mellitus, diseases of the respiratory and gastrointestinal systems, and cancers, typically involving the skin, lungs, liver, bladder, etc. About 4.5% of the 8,000 children from arsenic-affected villages of affected states were registered with mild to moderate arsenical skin lesions. In the preliminary survey, more than 10,000 patients were registered with different types of arsenic-related signs and symptoms, out of more than 100,000 people screened from affected states. Elevated levels of arsenic were also found in biological samples (urine, hair, nails) of the people living in affected states. The study reveals that the population who had severe arsenical skin lesions may suffer from multiple Bowens/cancers in the long term. Some unusual symptoms, such as burning sensation, skin itching and watering of eyes in the presence of sun light, were also noticed in arsenicosis patients.